Association seeking to improve position of FX borrowers meets with Matolcsy again

MTI – Econews

Tuesday, November 22, 2011, 17:20

An association seeking to improve the position of Hungarian borrowers with foreign currency-denominated loans met for further consultations with National Economy Minister Gyorgy Matolcsy on Tuesday, the ministry told MTI.

The association, dubbed Hiteltarsulas, or "Credit Association" in English, was recently established by borrowers disappointed with their chances of joining a government scheme allowing full early repayment of foreign currency-denominated mortgages at a discounted exchange rate. The association first met with Mr Matolcsy late in October.

At the meeting on Tuesday, the association agreed in principle on the establishment of a bank to be owned by the state and private individuals, said Hiteltarsulas founder Gyorgy Doubravszky. The state would hold a 49% stake in the bank, to be called Webbank, and private individuals would hold 51%, he added.

The association also asked the minister to have the government or financial market regulator PSZAF draw up a uniform application for joining the early repayment scheme.

Hiteltarsulas has so far collected and delivered to the ministry more than 2,000 proposals on improving the situation of Hungarian borrowers with forex loans.

In just one week, some 2,500 private individuals with HUF 11bn in savings, as well as 1,300 businesses have joined the Webbank initiative.

Webbank would be a "low-fare" internet bank without any bricks and mortar branches, according to the website for the initiative. It aims to "cover the entire scope of the ‘FrancTrap’ problem," says webbank.hu.

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